TomTom One -- Two road trip weekends

[jrstinkfish]

Well I used my TomTom heavy-duty for the first time since I bought it. I made a trip from Memphis to Dallas two weekends ago to visit family. I know that route (though TomTom wanted me to take a back-asswards way that would add an hour to my trip..). When I got there, I had to take my mom used car shopping, which led us all over Dallas and its suburbs. This is where the TomTom proved invaluable. There were times where it gave some confusing directions that either caused me to miss an onramp, or it told me to exit where there was no exit, but 99% of the time, it was flawless. You realize how handy it is when you're ready to look at another car, and you call the person from where you are, get their address, punch it in, and make your way to the next car. I'm sure any GPS can do the same, but that's my experience with the TomTom in case any prospective buyers are here and on the fence about buying one.

The second road trip was to Hot Springs this past weekend. Didn't print out any Google Maps as we normally do for road trips -- just plugged the hotel address in to the TomTom and headed out. Did the same thing for any attractions we wanted to visit there. This was the first time the girlfriend, who normally has no interest in my gadgets, had seen the TomTom. She was continually impressed with its accuracy even in the winding mountain roads, saying, "There's no way we'd find any of these places without this." It even had most of the places already in the POI database, which was helpful.

So there ya go. Couple of real-world experiences for anyone considering purchasing a TomTom GPS. I seriously can't imagine a trip without this in the future.

Just wanted to one annoying negative: The suction mount is flakey. It would stay on during the bumpiest of rides, and then just plop off onto the dashboard on a perfect road. You can never tell when it's going to detach itself, and it scares the bejeezus out of you every time. Also, if you're in a parking lot punching in a destination, it's sort of hard to tell just by glancing where the TomTom wants you to go initially, since it assumes you're on the street rather than a parking lot.

 

[TomTomGoblin]

I know that route (though TomTom wanted me to take a back-asswards way that would add an hour to my trip..).

Any idea why it wanted to take you on a path one hour longer than the route you know? Would google maps have taken you on that same one hour longer route?

I'm still debating on whether or not I should ditch the online mapping prep-work before going on trips. Thanks for any info.

 

[Guttboy]

When you think about it TT does what it is told...TO THE LETTER!

When you say "Fastest Route"....I believe that TT takes the speed limit and distance into account.

When you say "Shortest Route"....TT takes the shortest route to get to your destination (although not necessarily the quickest).

I have found that the majority of the time TT takes me best way whether or not I select Fastest or Shortest...depending on my mood of navigation. There are times, however, that the route is a bit off from what I would do. After relfecting back on such routes, TT was just following the logic to the letter of the law.

On Itineraries, I use waypoints and zoom right in for placement...then "cheat" the waypoint to the side that TT cannot make an error in the "shortest route" category and I let it chug along.

What I REALLY LOVE about TT is that even when I blow off TT's directions (say for a traffic jam or I just want to avoid a certain school zone/stoplight/sign), it recalculates to get me to the destination almost immediately and gets me there just fine!

I bought a new digital camera today at a Sam's Club I had not been to that had it. TT got me there and back and I had no idea how to get there....great directions!

 

[jrstinkfish]

Any idea why it wanted to take you on a path one hour longer than the route you know? Would google maps have taken you on that same one hour longer route?

I'm still debating on whether or not I should ditch the online mapping prep-work before going on trips. Thanks for any info.

I brought the GPS in just now to compare to Google maps line by line. Well, it turns out I just misread the instructions. The TomTom indeed had me going to same route as Google, but for some reason, Google (correctly) estimates it an hour less than the TomTom.

 

[Guttboy]

There ARE mapping errors in the new 665 maps. Additionally there have been reports of the speed limits for routes being deleted or being incorrect in that version. So perhaps it is just calculating at different speeds thats all.

Glad this worked for you!

 

[fanchee]

I find that ETA is way off the longer the trip. I think there's a disconnect somewhere on speed limits of streets/highways. I usually just ignore the ETA and focus more on total miles to destination until I get a little closer. The closer you get (obviously) the more accurate the ETA.

 

[jrstinkfish]

The bad thing about the ETA discrepancy is that it makes you wonder (as it did for me) if the directions are the best route. The good thing is, when you see the ETA move down earlier and earlier as you go further along on your trip, you feel like you're making excellent time

 

[fanchee]

LOL - that's very true!